I never Knew
by JessEverdeen288
Summary: Audri Baum is reaped into the 125th hunger games with the one person in the world she hates. She will have to fight for survival without letting her guard down. While in the arena Audri will experience a side of her she never knew.
1. Chapter 1

I could'nt take my eyes of the screen, for President Snow II was announcing what the 5th quarter quell was going to be. My name is Audri Baum. I live in district 2. I'm 14 years old. I await to see what twist will be added to the hell of the Hunger Games. " This year, to prove that the citizens of Panem can't change anything the Capitol does, the contestants of the Hunger Games will not be allowed to voluteer to participate." President Snow said, the anthem played, and the screen went dark. I did'nt know how to react at first. _No big deal right? _

Yea, if I lived in district 12.

Volunteering is tradition in District 2! But I would'nt even dream of volunteering. Why would anyone want to throw themselves into an arena to fight to the death? It's so barbaric. But, thats how the capitol controls us. There was this story about this girl who won, what was it? I think the 74th or 75th Hunger games. She tried to start a rebelion but it blew up in her face. Ever since then the Hunger Games have been so brutal.

But tomarrow is reaping day. Some sucker is about to be forced into an arena with 23 other children in an all-out killing spree.

I climb in to my bed, turn out the lights and attempt to get some sleep.

I wake up to the sun peeking through the curtains making it's way to my eyes."Oh yay, its reaping day." I say sarcasticaly. I drag myself out of bed to grab something to eat before I get ready. _Where is my dad?_ I think while munching on my cereal.I hear a bump in the hall. " Dad?" I yell but only hear the echo of my desperate voice in reply. _He must be preparing for reaping. After all he is a peacekeeper._

I finish my food, take a shower, dry my hair,and throw on my dress. I head for the mirror to take a look. I fix my long brown hair to where it's presentable, and smooth out the wrinkles in my short, blue dress. Taking a look at the clock in the reflection, I realize it's time to go.

I arrive at the square, barley pushing throught the large crowd to get to the area marked of for the 14 year olds. They had just finished Panem's history when the escort for district 2 comes on stage. She seems perfectly normal compared to some escorts.

Until she talks.

Her voice is like nails on a chalkboard. It's ridiculous how high it is. " Ladies first!" She practically screams into the microphone. I glance around at some faces, desperate to be called. I just stand there, praying it won't be me.

"And the female tribute for District 2 is," It's completely silent, every person holding their breath.

"Audri Baum!" I hear frustrated sighs come from all around me.

Wait, what?

" Audri Baum " the escort repeats. My heart falls into my stomach. I start taking small steps towards that stage. I get on and glance at the faces giving me the death glare.I stand there and await the call of a savior's voice comimg to rescue me, but it never comes.I see the camera and realize my sea green eyes are wide open.

The escort hops over to the ball for the boys. " And the male tribute for district 2 is, Charlie Tank!"

Oh. My. Gosh.

Why! Why does it have to be him? Was'nt being reaped punishment enough? I had enough of him a year ago when he harassed me. Here's the story.

Charlie is 50% georgous, hansome, and sexy looks. The other half is a complete bastard. A year ago I confessed that I liked him, and he laughed in my face. Thats not it though. He went around telling everybody and said that I was a complete jerk, which is a lie. He just finds every single flaw and turns it into a huge lie. Since then nobody has talked to me. I have no friends and I'm single.

This day is just great.

As we shake hands I think to myself. _I'm being forced into an arena with the biggest jerk in Panem. But, I will show them who I am and expose you for the kind of person you are. But I know one thin for sure: I am coming home. But in order for that to happen I must live, and you must die. But don't worry, I'm saving that pleasure for myself. Welcome to Hunger Games, Charlie. Prepare to die._


	2. Chapter 2

Sitting there, alone , in the justice building, I try to imagine what kind of horrors with face me. What if there are no weaponds? I'm not strong. What if the careers kill me? Wait, I'm a career. Well sorta, I've never trained, unless you count swimmimg. I taught myself, but my dad was never there to train me. What if i start to trust Charlie? No, never will i trust him. He's a liar, I hate liars. Well, now I'm going to hate myself. I can't let the other careers know I've never trained. They will surely kill me. But, Charlie might...

I push that thought away.

I'm not surprised that no one has came to say goodbye. Well the only good part about being reapped is I've made all those girls jealous. That thought put a smile on my face.

The door begins to creak open. I'm suprised to see my father walk in.

"Hey" He murmurs.

"What." I say with hatred.

"I'm proud of you."

"Why? It's not like I volunteered." I say, still angry.

" Just for the future. I want you to have this." He places a chain with a blue locket on it in my hand. " It used to be your mother's"

" What? So you took off her dead corpse after you hung her?" I yell.

" I couldn't help that. I can't control the capitol's laws. It was her or you. We both agreed." He muttered with pain in his voice.

I don't care what he says. I'm never forgiving him.

He gets up and heads for the door. As he's heading out he whispers " I love you. See you soon." A leaves without another word.

That left me with mixed emotions. He belives I can win.

" See you soon, Dad." I mumble.

After twenty minutes or so, a peacekeeper comes to collect me. We board a fancy train and start zooming towards the capitol. It will take about a day or so. The peacekeeper leads me to my room and leaves me alone. I go to my bed and plop on it face first.

I wish this day never happened.

I'm startled by a knock on my door, but disapointed when I hear the chipmunk voice of my escort.  
>"dinner will be in an hour!"<p>

"Thanks" I yell back with my face in my pillow.

Well at least I'll get to meet my mentor. It's the kid who won last year. He will help me survive, I hope. All that I know now is that I want to go home. I never knew mom sacraficed herself. What did she even do? I really wonder what happened. It was 10 years ago.

I decide not to focus on it and just take a shower.

When I got out I felt refreshed and much better. But, I was angry at myself for being so hostile towards my dad. How am I going to act towards Charlie? I know for a fact he will never apologize for his actions. But I should'nt be rude because I might get in a situation where he may be my only hope. Should I try to befriend him? Getting on his good side may help me. I'll just act like nothing happened.

Ugh.

With hair still wet,I throw on a white shirt with black skinny jeans and and a blue, red ,and yellow sweater, and head for the dining car. On the way we must of had a sharp turn or something, which sent me flying to the right and I got to meet the floor face to face. " Way to go, clutz." I scold myself. I did'nt even think about being a huge clutz as a factor that would hurt my chances of winning.

I stood up and continued for the dining car, making sure to keep grasp of something. When I arrive there I'm surprised to see I'm first to get there. I just pick a seat and wait for someone to come. I've had enough with being alone for a life time. _Will someone just come?_

I'm startled to see Charlie walk in.

_Except him?_

He choses the chair thats across from me. I try to avoid looking into the sky blue eyes, and stare at my empty plate. _Don't talk to him. Don't look at him. Don't be hostile. Wow, this is very akward._

He breaks the silence "Hi."

"Hello." I force myself to look up at him. _Just act like he did'nt ruin your social life._

"How are you?" He questions. I know he does'nt care.

"I'm not sure" I'm being completely honest.

" What? "

" Never mind. " I quickly change the subject. " So, we are careers."

" Ya I know, its such an honor!"

" Uh-huh. What do you think the other careers will be like?" I try to hide the fact that my voice is shakey.

" I hope they are strong. The sooner everyone is dead, the faster I come home."

"But you might not come home."

" Well I have a good chance. I also have trained myself to be determined, and that determination is by strongest weapon. Also so I have alot to come home to! And you do-" He stops suddenly. "Nevermind"

It took every strength in my body to keep myself from bursting into tears. The worst part is that he's right. I have nothing to come home to.

This day can't get any worse.

Our escort and mentor walk in. They sit down in the available seats."What are your names?" I blurt out. I just want to know.

" My name is Tali Low " Says our escort, I mean Tali.

" I'm Jarel Rock " The mentor says proudly. " I'm going to bring one of you two home." I see a smirk make its way onto Charlie's face. " But I'm getting ahead of myself, for now we are just going to relax and get to know you guys."

" That's right. Lets just eat and we'll start buisness tomarrow." Tali adds.

The meal comes in seven courses, and each time I'm more surprised with the amazing plates of delectable food that are put in front of me. Since I'm from district 2 you would suspect I get properly fed. Well that's very wrong. Since I practically live by myself, its usually cereal and what ever I can find.

After being stuffed with Panem's finest food , we all start to get up and head out the door.

" Tomarrow's going to be a busy day!" Tali quickly adds in. "So get a good nights sleep!"

_Ya, that will happen. _

I head back to my room and just lay on the bed, preparing for a very long night. So mant thoughts were buzzing in my head, I couln't focus. I was very upset about what Charlie said, but happy about what my dad said.

_Charlie is wrong. I do have something to come home to. No, it's not a bunch of fony people I call friends, or 15 girlfriends that don't know about each other. I have a father. A father that belives I can come home. A father that has willed me to win. He loves me, and wants me to come home. No matter how I do it, I'm coming home. And you can't stop me._


	3. Chapter 3

_You must sleep Audri. Go to sleep. The faster you sleep, the faster you will wake up. Then it's one less night of torture. Sleep sleep sleep sleep. Ugh._

I gave up on sleep and just started to pace around my room. The train came to a sudden stop and I'm thrown back onto my bed.

_I'm not the only one who wants me to sleep._

I go over to the window to see what happened. It turned out we were only getting gas. I unlock the window and push it outwards. Fresh air was the best thing for me right now. I stick my head out the window and let the cool air blow on my face and blow my hair back.

I hear the main door shut and quickly close my window. The train begins to move again and I'm almost hurtled to my bed again, but I grab the window ledge. I walked over to my bed and layed back down.

_You got your fresh air, now sleep. _

After a few hours, my eyelids start to get heavy and I finally escape to sleep.

" Wake up, Audri! We have alot to do!" Tali's voice travels in my room. I awake with a jolt. " Come on! we are at the capitol! Don't forget anything!"

"Okay." I reply back and hear her shoes click against the floor while she walks away.

What could I forget?

_I'll have my dress sent back to my house. What else could there be?_

"My locket!" I exclaim. I run over to my dress, take it out of a secret side pocket, and slip it over my head.

Exiting the car I'm surprised to see no cameras. I really don't care though. One less thing to worry about. I'm guided to an elevator by Tali and she shows me to press the number of my district to get to my floor.

" Meet us down here in ten minutes for breakfest. A peacekeeper will show you where to go."She exclaims. Tali expresses every sentence like its the most important thing in the world.

I go up the elevator and enter my room, and throw on blue jeans and a white blouse. When I meet the peacekeeper he explains to me that they remolded the training center. He lead me through a long corridor of hallways, until we came up to a door labled " Dining Room"

When I get there I realize I'm early again. When I sit down I hope that Charlie does'nt walk in. I'm relived to see Tali and Jarel come in right before Charlie.

" Well are'nt you just a hungry girl!" Tali points out. Jarel and Tali sit in the two seats across from me, forcing Charlie to sit next to me.

" The capitol wants to get strait to the games so they're making tonight the chariot rides, then the next three days for training, and private training and interveiws are all in the same day." Jarel explains.

"After breakfest you will meet your stylist and prep team." Tali says with her excitable tone. " I'm going to lie, it's going to be a bit of an ordeal, but, they are going to make you look georgous!"

"Any other advice?" I question.

" Just let them do their thing." Jarel murmurs.

We ate the rest of our breakfest listening to Tali tell the story on how she got her black hair. Let me just say it's very annoying listening to her voice for a long amount of time.

After breakfest I went up to my room for some down time until my prep team come up and transform me. I take that time just to relax and think.

_If I impress these people, I might get some sponsors. Their money will be the fine line between my survial and death. But will I get them? In my eyes I'm attractive but that may not be the way others veiw me._

" What am I going to do?"

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	4. Chapter 4

After sitting in my room for about 5 minutes, I realized, we did'nt watch the reapings! Swiftly, I trott over to a little microphone sticking out of the dresser. " Hunger games reapings." I command the microphone and immediantly a screen popped out of the dresser, and began the reapings. I skipped through the history of Panem and went right to the reapings. The district one girl looked intimidating, until you heard her name.

" Sparkle Tank!"

I couldn't help but chuckle to myself at her name. But I still felt bad for her. She paraded on stage filled with joy, but momentarily shot the escort a death glare. Who would'nt? The escort practically skiped to the boy names.

" Dak Martom!"

A gigantic boy lunged for the stage, almost making the whole thing collapse. _Why are the district 1 boys so... beast-like?_ I mean seriously! I know we are careers but thats, thats a whole new level! I really don't want to get on his bad side.

When it came to district two, I gave myself a mental face palm when I saw how scared I looked. It was like a deer in the head lights!

That's not good.

I quickly shoved it away at the fact I can redeem myself. I can handle a knife, sorta. Everyone always talked about training, so I practiced for acouple days. By then I realized that there was volunteering, and every one else would LOVE to take my place.

Gosh, I'm stupid...

The sound of the district 3 escort snapped me out of that thought.

I did'nt really pay attention to the names, except for the careers, just looking for weakness. The district 3 tributes looked like they would'nt be a problem. When it came to district four I started to pay attention again.

" Sarah Alentha!" The peepy escort cheered. It took a minute but a girl tripped onto the stage. She did'nt really look like an average career, more like a sweet girl who wanted to be a tribute as much as I did. For some reason, a part of me wanted to make her my ally, but we are careers together, and I can't trust anyone.

The boy looked like he was an undercover serial killer. He was very creepy in every single way, even his name. " Chance Black" I'll just try to avoid him as much as I can.

By the time I got to district 7, three overly excited stylists jumped into my room. They started grabbing my hands and shook them harshly while rapidly trying to talk over each other. I couldn't understand one word they were saying. It sounded like a foreign launguage, and it was incredibly hard to toon out. One of them pulled me into the bathroom and set me on a chair. Simultaneously, they all quieted down and got to work on me. They started waxing my legs, arms, and even my eyebrows. Every rip sent pain shooting through the body part getting waxed.

One of the stylists looked at me funny and said " we told you it's going to be unpleasent."

_Really?_

It made me unconfortable when they asked me too undress, but I did anyways. Got to look good for the sponsors. They made me takee a bath in this green liquid that stung me all over. When I got out, they shoved me back into the chair and started painting my nails a shining gold. By then the foreign babble started again. I only understood that they were going to take me to beauty base zero. What the heck is that?

When they were done, I looked absolutely flawless. My brunett hair was perfect, there was no makeup on me, yet it still brought out my green eyes. I was gorgeous. When the prep team left, I quickly snatched a robe in the closet and threw it on.

My stylist walked into the room, and just stared at me. It was a man who looked to be about 50, with black hair and emotionless eyes. After what seemed like forever he finally spoke.

" You're very pretty."

He stuck his hand into the hallway and gave me the most beautiful dress I've every saw. It was a short strapless dress that had tiny bits of sequence on it that when hit the light made the dress looked like a shining diamond. " District two. Stone mining." I murmured. It's also supplying peace keepersand weapons, but thats a secret.

" Whats your name?" I question.

" Vark"

Without another word, he did my make-up and left.

_Okay then. _

About a minute after he left, Tali walked in to escort me to the chariots. She was weirdly quiet, which meant some peace and quiet for five minutes. Better than nothing I guess.

Apparently we were late when we got there. I ran to my chariot and jumped in right before we started moving. I scooted as far away from Charlie as I could. I tried to calm down and focus.

_Audri, this is it. What happeneds tonight will help you greatly, or hurt you terribly. So turn on the charm and let your determination lead you tonight. And why not? Get some silent revenge by trying to take the attention from Charlie. You got this._

I flashed on my winning smile, preparing to take over the crowd.


	5. Chapter 5

The shining lights blinded me, and the crowd's cheering almost made me deaf. They were going absoulutely wild! Jumping up and down, stomping their feet, and even trying to ride the chariots. It was crazy!

" District 2!"

I catch a glance at the big screen, and my breath is taken away by the sight of my dress. I looked just like a shining diamond, glistenening even brighter with every move I make. I was very pleased with how stunning I looked, and how confident I felt. For a moment, I forgot the fact I may die in less than a week, but that I'm so loved by so many people. Some random person tossed a rose at me. I caught it, and placed in my hair.

_This is good. I defenitely have some sponsors._

I took great pride in the fact that I was stealing all of Charlie's thunder, and that I should kick it up a notch. I whiped my hair and flashed a sexy pose, which got the crowd going crazy. The were fighting peacekeepers trying to get past them, sticking their arms out in hope that they would get to touch my hand. I stuck my hand out and brushed a few people with the tips of my finger. People were screaming and going bazerk.

They finally quit lingering on me and move to district 3. When they introduced everyone we all came to a halt in front of the president's mansion, and he gives the official greeting. It was rather short though. A quick welcome, and he slithers back inside. I did'nt really care, I was still focused on the fact everyone loved me more than anyone else.

When we returned to the training center, I notice some of the other tributes shot me very dirty looks. I just smirked back and walked on. I would never think I get this much satisfaction from being detested by these random people. In the corner of my eye, I saw Dak looking at with me, with a concerned expression.

_That couldn't have gone better. _

" Why." A sudden voice comes from behind. It took me a second to realize it was Charlie's.

" Why what?" I ask.

" Why did you completely steal the show? All eyes were on you. I bet they don't even know I exsist!" He yelled in a hostile tone.

" Looks like someone can't handle a taste of their own medicine." I cheered cockily. I walk away without letting him respond. I was overwhelmed by excitment at this point. I couldn't help but holding a grin all the way to my room.

_Look at me now district two. The capitol loves me! I expect a little more respect for when I return._

I carefully slide the dress over my head and place it gently on the bed. The have a suppy of beautiful looking silk pajamas, but I just go for the blue ones. I'm not that picky. I change and jump into my bed, which felt like floating and landing on a cloud. I think tonight I'll get a much better sleep. I snap and the lights go out, and I slip into sleep.

The next morning I find myself being waken rudely by Tali the chipmunk. I throw on a red shirt and jeans and walk with Tali to the dining hall. They gave us an abudant of food to choose from. I have a little bite of everything, except for the cereal. Soon enough we head over to the training center. An akwardly muscular woman greets us and tells us about the stations and such. When she finishes, Charlie and I look at each other and head in the oppisite direction of the other.

I immediently go to the knife throwing area. At first, the knifes dont really go where I want but, after a little while, the knife starts wedging itself into the target, instead of the wall. Bullseye after bullseye, I did'nt miss a shot. I want to start practicing with a moving target, but I can't reveal too much, so I decide to practice with something that I can shoot with. Slingshots were wrong for me, too little. So I try a bow and arrows. That does'nt go as bad, but still a huge struggle.

Soon its lunch time and we're hearded to a caffiteria-type room. It's simple food, but I go for the rice and beans with some chicken. Dak comes up behind me and signals me to come sit with him. I follow him to a table with all the other careers. There's that Sarah girl again. Her light brown eyes scan me, trying to read me. Too bad for her, I'm a closed book.

The only open seat is next to Charlie and this Sarah girl. At first, it's akward silence, but Charlie thinks its his obligation to break it. " Good group we have this year. This games is going to be easy."

We all just eyeball him, and he goes back to eating his food. We all know something he does'nt. We are not all allies. We will probly stick together for thr fist couple of days, but break off soon enough.

After we finish I head back to the gym alone. A hand grabs me and pulls me to the side. I'm surprised to see it's Dak. The words escape from his mouth.

" I want to be your ally."

" Uh- huh. I'm listening." I reassure him.

" The careers this year, suck, so I want specific people. Sparkle is a very stealthy person, and can use a bow and arrow,Chance is good with traps and is very clever, I am strong and an excellent leader not to honk my own horn." He replies with a more positive attitude. " What do you say?"

" Why do you want me?"

" Well, you, are, uh, good with a knife, and, erm, you are skinny so you seem fast." he barely gets out.

_Ya right. I know the real reason. I'm a threat, something standing in your way from victory. I have already won the crowd and a ton of sponsors, and you want that. But I know better. Don't worry though, let me humor you. But just a warning: you just fell into my trap._

I give him a slight smile and awnser.

" Sure."

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	6. Chapter 6

For the rest of the hour, I kept my eyes on the careers, but mostly that Sarah girl. Something about her...

I memorized as much as my brain could hold on the edible plants. I also took a whack at fire starting, but that proved to be a big failure. My odds on surviving are half-and-half right now. I'm not perfect, but I'm not hopeless. Besides, the careers are practically begging for me. I'm a threat after my big presentation last night, so I'm basically golden. I hope.

The next day I focused on hand to hand combat and running. I got to choose to wrestle a smaller person than the body-builder woman. I took a little while but she finally pinned me. Still pinned to the ground, somebody dropped a sheild which let her guard down. I pushed her upwards, jumped onto my feet, and statred attacking. It took alot longer, but, I finally pinned her.

_What the heck? When did I get... strength?_

In the corner of my eye, I noticed Charlie was staring at me. I couldn't really read it, more like a " boy am I in deep..."

I went over to try climbing. They had the jungle-gym type tree thing. When I tried climbing up, I made it up the first 20 feet. I'm not very heavy considering that I pretty much eat only cereal. Up another 10 feet. I started to get a little tire because that higher you got up, the farther apart the bars got. Up another 15 feet. At 45 feet, I looked down and became instatly frightened. I've never been really high up, so I've never realized how freaky it was.

_Okay, time to get down.._

I sped up while getting down, I just wanted to be off.

When I tried running my time was 1:27 for a quarter mile.

_Not to bad, Baum. _

At lunch, I decide to check out the other competition. They did'nt look like to much trouble, maybe 4 or 5 people that looked intimidating. I sat down at the same table as yesterday, but shifted seats to be across from Charlie. Dak, Sparkle, and Chance were not there though. I saw Charlie notice something, he jumped up and ran to another table. Looking at that table, I saw it was Dak and them. Poor Charlie, he wants to be protected, but he's first on my list.

It was just me and Sarah, munching on our food silently.

" Hi." I hear a little voice come out of her.

" Hey" I reply, a little more confident than her's.

" I'm Sarah." She says sheepishly.

" Audri."

" Is that short for something?" She questions.

" No. Is yours?"

" Yea. Saraliawayderella."

" Oh my, really?" I awnser shocked.

"NO!" she starts cracking up.

" Don't choke." I chuckle.

" Did you really belive me?" she asks, still laughing.

" For a minute there, yea."

" Ha, I sometimes make a joke out of a-" She gets closser to me and whispers " bad situations."

" Don't focus on those kind out things." I reassured her. " Hey, they were serving little cakes?"

" Yea. "

" Well I-I did'nt get alot of food, and I'm, still kinda, um , hungry." I kept beating around the bush.

" Are you hungry for the Hunger Games?"

I couldn't help but crack up to that. I've never really, encountered, a person this nice and funny. I still keep my guard up, but not too much. I want to treasure this moment. I don't really get this much, and besides, Sarah is really nice and funny. District 2 is not really nice and funny.

" Hey want to know something really cool?"

" Sure. " We scooch closer to each other and e get quiet.

" I heard from the district 12 boy that we can go on the roof." she whispered.

" Really? "

" Ya, the district 12 boy is really nice. He's always staring at you. Have'nt you noticed?" she asks.

" No, I've been distracted by the training. Can we go on the roof tonight?"

" Sure. Meet me on District 12 foor after dinner." She murmurs.

"Okay."

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	7. Chapter 7

_What am I doing._

The elevator was going up swiftly to its destination: the roof

_I'm letting my guard down... I don't even know this girl_

6, 7, 8,

_I can't trust her... Trust nobody... _

9,10,11

With all my might I jam my fist into to the 11th floor button, causing the door to open, leaving me face to face with the startled district 11 tribute. Causally , I press the close button. With the elevator idle, I stand there attempting to recollect my thoughts.

_What am I doing? She was so nice... No, I'm letting my guard down! _

I felt like I was at war with myself, until the thoughts of my dad came up. I had hated him my whole life. I thought he was a murderer. He hung my mother for some reason he never told me about, but he never mentioned the choice. A choice? Me or my mom... What happened?

I realized I had been zoned out for a while, and gently pushed the 2 button, and slowly the elevator pulled me back to my cushy prison. My last day of training is tomorrow, and I have to be at the top of my game. No more distractions.

But in the back of my mind, a little voice was saying

_"What if she is trustworthy? What if she just wanted to be my friend..."_

No. Not again.

When I stepped out the elevator, I came face to face with Charlie, who had a similar surprised expression that the 11 boy had. Without a glance, I push past him and step into my room. My mind was still buzzing with thoughts of Sarah, like an endless highway.

_Trust her? Trust her not?_

Why was this bothering me so much... The question lingered in my mind as I forced my self into sleep.

My dream was one I'd never forget. I was standing in a shimmering green field that seemed to never end. I could see myself, as if I were outside my body. I was wearing a flowing light pink dress with a lustrous silver pattern. I looked beautiful, but something caught my eye. On the ground, a blood red dagger appeared next to me. I go to pick it up, and as my hand grasps the blood stained metal, all the grass in the field dies, turning into a dark brown. The clouds above my head turn black, enclosing me in endless darkness, and my dress, my beautiful dress, became tattered and ripped and turned to a terrifying red that matched my dagger.

"Why! What did I do? Where are you!" I could hear myself screaming this into an empty abyss.

" I'm right here," said a calming voice from behind.

I turn around and can't believe my eyes.

"Mom?"

" Aubri. My gorgeous baby. Come here."

Something about her voice was... Scary. It wasn't sweet, it was eerie. But I went up to her anyways, dagger still in hand. But as I approach her, I realize it wasn't my mother. I immediately started to panic.

"Who are you?" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

I tried to run, but the wind pushed me to my knees. The dagger fell in front of me. The woman walked over to me.

"The question is WHO ARE YOU? Where did the sweet girl go? Why has this killer replaced her? So filled with anger, craving revenge, you have become a monster." She snarled.

I began to cry. I wanted to get up a d run away, but I couldn't. The women snatched the dagger from the ground and pointed it at me, accusingly.

"Find yourself. You will never be happy until you realize who you are. Until then, you are nothing!" She thruster the dagger deep into the ground, and the earth began to fracture. Until it caved in beneath me. As I fall, I could hear myself murmur my last words.

"I'm sorry."

**Hey! I've returned from the underworld! Sorry for not posting for a very long time. I will be posting as often as I can. And also guys, remember: THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX! there's a lot more subtext then you think;) As always, please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

It's no wonder Charlie burst into the door, my screaming probably woke up the district 10 tributes. He didn't say anything, neither did I. We just locked eyes. My hand searched for the locket my dad gave me that was hidden in my shirt. I finally found it a grasped it, eyes still locked with Charlie. I finally realized what was happening.

"I'm ok." I croaked. "Really. Just a dream, that's all."

Just a dream.

Without a word, he nodded and walked back to his room.

_What. Just. Happened._

I couldn't grasp what just happened. Why did Charlie run in?Who was that lady?

_Calm down Baum, everything is fine. Just focus on the games._

I laid back down and forced myself to think about the swimming I used to do. I mean it wasn't like District 4, but we had some beautiful lakes. I could usually wait till the middle of the night, when all the kids wouldn't be training, and just swim until sunrise. No worries. Just water...

Tali decided it be a great idea to scream "TIME FOR BREAKFAST," at us to wake us up today.

Thanks Tali. Ugh.

After breakfast, we headed to our final day of training. I had to really focus on strength today. I had no idea what I would be doing for our privet session... Not that our mentor was helping. He hadn't even been here for the last couple of days. Where was he?

I quickly ignored the question when we arrived at the training center.

_Alrighty Baum, it's go time._

I headed strait for the knife throwing station. I had to perfect this...

I practiced my throwing until lunch, making sure I hit the bullseye every time, as fast as I could. I still had no idea how I could throw well, I guess it's just based on the math...

As I walk into our cafeteria, I see a table with Dak, Sparkle, and Chance sitting at, while Charlie tries to convince Dak to let him sit at. It must be killing him, the fact that they are saving me a seat and rejecting him.

And then, there was another table, with Sarah and another girl, with light blue eyes that I could see from across the room. The tribute from 3, I guess. I wonder if I should go talk to her, and say that I forgot or something about this girl made me want to be nice.

_Can't...trust... anyone... _

My mind was to frazzled to think. I decided to go sit with Dak. I mean, after Charlie gave him a hard time about it...

We started off eating in silence. For the first time, I got a good look at them.

Sparkle was beautiful. She had shiny grey eyes and bleach-blonde hair. But she was guarded, I could tell by the way she gave me a 'what are you looking at' look.

Chance was kind of goth, I guess you can say. He had black hair, dark brown eyes with a hint of black eye liner. He was kind of scrawny, but the way he studied all of us, it feels like he could read minds. But he spent most of his time staring at table with his district partner, Sarah, and that other girl.

Dak looked like he came strait out of military school, but he was the Sargent- Major. He had light brown hair that was shaved into a buzz cut. His eyes were blue, but not very dazzling. He was built like a football player; He was incredibly muscular. Like he can snap a person in half with his bare hands. I could tell he was studying me, for the past couple of days whenever I glanced in his direction, his eyes quickly darted away.

Finally Dak almost whispered "We need a game plan. Obviously we can make the area around the Cornucopia our territory."

"I think we need to assign jobs," Sparkle piped in. "While we aren't hunting, we'll need some one to gather supplies or even food if there isn't enough in the Cornucopia."

I decided to input my opinion. "Who is going to guard our camp while we hunt? We can't leave it vulnerable."

"What about her?" It kinda scared me when Chance talked. He seemed so quiet.

"You mean Sarah?" Sparkle questioned.

"No, her." He said pointing to her friend. " She from district 3, and she is very smart. I think she should be good at guarding."

We exchanged looks until we reached a silent agreement.

"If you can get her on board, I think it would be okay." I said, speaking for the whole group.

He got up and walked toward their direction. I wonder if chance had feelings for this girl...

Not the time to think about that, I told my self, it was time to get back to training.

This time I tried hand to hand combat, again. But this time, I paid attention to the trainers feet. I once read in a book that said people will point their toes in the way they're gonna go. This gave me an awesome advantage. Since I was kind of small, I wasn't very strong, but defense proved to be a great offense. He was gonna fake me and make it look like he was gonna go right and go left, so I did the same. He pulled his trick but realized I had him when he got to meet my foot, up close and personal.

As I pinned the trained to the floor ( a personal reward ) I looked over to see Charlie, staring at me. I didn't know what was going on in his brain but he was definitely acting different towards me. I mean, he had used his social power to convince everyone that I was mean and a freak, but I never really thought about the reason why. What would drive a person to do stuff like that?

I decided it was a good time to get off my trainer.

My time to my privet session was cutting close, and I had to impress them. I tried not to worry about it and went over to the bow and arrow station, just to try that again; if there wasn't any knives I would be in trouble. It didn't go awful, and it kept my mind off everything that was going on.

But that didn't last long, it was time for our privet sessions. The wait left me with Charlie in awkward silence for a long period of time. It hadn't really occurred to me that he was the first one into my room when I screamed. The look on his face, it was pure terror mixed with concern. Why did he care so much? It's not that he likes me, he made that perfectly clear long ago.

But what if?

My thought was interrupted when a mechanical voice boomed through my ears.

"Audri Baum."

As I walked toward the door, I swear I heard a silent "Good luck," from Charlie. Only one thought was going through my mind when I walked into that room.

_Thank you, Charlie_


	9. Chapter 9

As soon as the metal doors shut behind me, all other thoughts left my head, except for one:

_This is it_

I walked over to the booth where the game makers sat, gave them a slight out of respect. Couldn't hurt, right?

I turned around, and strolled over to the knives. They were beautiful sliver. I picked up four of them, one between each finger of my right hand. I faced the targets, and let my instincts take over.

I wasn't in control of my body, or at least that's what it felt like. One after another, the knives flew across the room as I jerked my arms to make sure the knives went were I wanted. One by one I heard all of the hit the targets like beats on a metronome.

I looked up, terrified.

And, I was pleasantly surprised. All the knives were wedged into the center of each target.

"Thank you." I said humbly before I left.

That went very well. But, where the heck did that come from...

I never really trained before. But I can't afford to let this add to the list of drama that going on in my life.

I was kinda anxious to find out my score, and secretly interested in Charlie's score. He was one of the kids who trained, but, not a lot. He was strong, so he could've thrown some stuff around, or something.

The faces of Ranch Flickerman and Timothy Pinstrip appeared on our television. Timothy was the announcer, but it seemed like he would be happier being the head Gamemaker.

"As you all know, the tributes are scored from a scale of ten to twelve, based on how well they did at their privet session." Timothy explained.

"Our tributes from District 1, ladies and gentlemen." Ranch said.

"Dak Martom."

He received a ten.

"Sparkle Rank."

Also a Ten.

"District 2, Audri Baum."

...

"Nine."

WHOOP!

"Charlie Tank."

Oh gosh...

"Eight"

Cheers came and went quickly. We all paid close attention to our opponents.

"Savannah Glades."

She got a 7. Upon further inspection, I realized that was the girl sitting with Sarah, the one Chance wants to add to our group...

Then it came to Sarah's name.

"Four."

Huh?

I kinda wondered why she received a four...

But it isn't the time to worry about it. Tonight's the interviews, and I'm not gonna lie, I was kinda excited to be dolled up again.

I went back to my room where Tali was waiting. As a good escort would, she gave me a little pep talk and gave me some basics on what's going to be asked.

I actually really appreciated it.

I followed Tali to my designated dressing room. She wished me good luck, and left me alone with Vark. He didn't say much. He curled my hair and put on my make up in a way that gave me a if-I-was-perfect-this-is-how-I'd-look-when-I-woke-up-in-the-morning look.

He lead me to a little wardrobe, opened it, and presented my offit.

My heart sank into my stomach. It was the pink dress from my nightmare. Or at least was very similar to it. It was a topless baby-pink dress, with little silver dots that danced when the light hit them, that flowed down into a simple skirt that went down to my knees.

I put it on and looked the mirror. I looked beautiful and terrified at the same time. I guess Vark had noticed and handed me a small black box. I opened it and pulled out my dad's blue locket. I instantly felt better.

I wanted to see my Dad again. I wanted to know the truth. But this locket was the only connection I had to him right now.

And, that's ok.

To finish up the outfit, Vark handed me silver strap on high heels.

He looked at me and said, "You're beautiful." The same thing he said to me the first time we met.

"Thank you," was my returning comment.

Ranch Flikerman was the charismatic figure who had light green hair, green eye brows, and to top it off, green lipstick. He looked pretty eccentric, but his appearance matched his personality. He was weird, but in a good way. He was the type of person you could never hate.

I didn't really pay attention to Sparkle and Dak's interviews. I was only caring about one person, and that was me.

"Let's meet our tribute from district 2!" Ranch cheered. I walked to the center of the stage. I feel everyone's eyes staring at me from behind.

"Audri Baum! I bet everyone remembers you! At the tribute parade, you stole my heart!" He cupped his hands protectively over his heart. "Am I right people!"

A roaring cheer came from the crowd.

"Thank you." I reply with a modest chuckle.

"So tell me about yourself. What's life like in District Two?"

_Oh gosh, um, what do I say... What's the thing I love about district 2..._

"Swimming. That's my favorite thing to do." I reply, hoping I didn't sound to hasty.

"Swimming? Huh, that's not something you hear from District two! Looks like we found a hidden treasure! Tell us, what makes it so special." He eagerly asked.

"Well, lets see. Some people view it as exercise , others a quick way to cool down. But then there's me. When I'm in the water, everything else fades. It's just me, flying through the deep blue waves. It's what I love. I feel like a child when I'm swimming, and the water's my blanket. Everything makes sense."

I reply as if I had been saying it my whole life. When truth is, I never really did tell anyone about it...

"Wow, I never really thought about it that way. Truly spectacular. Now tell me, Aubri, do you have a boyfriend back home?" Ranch inquired.

"I do not." I replied dryly.

I glanced at the screen that mirrored us, and I could see the mixed emotions that were crossing Charlie's face.

_Oh, Ranch, how perfect you are._

"What! A beautiful girl like you?" Ranch gasped, over emotionally.

"Yep," I clarified. " Not many people notice me; they don't know me."

"Well, , you're here now. Here's the chance to show who you are."

The buzzer went off, signaling the end of my interview.

"Good luck, Aubri." Ranch wished me, with honest truth. "Ladies and gentlemen, Aubri Baum, District 2!" Ranch could hardly be heard over the screaming crowd.

I skipped over to my seat , proud of myself.

Charlie's interview went very good, as well. He talked about, his friends and his family. He seemed very happy to be talking about something besides himself . I don't think many people cared about his home life, just his training or whatever. I was kinda happy for him, until he snottiness returned.

"I'm ready, all my friends want me to come home, and that's exactly what I'll do!"

Deep down, in the back of my mind, I scared of Charlie. He really wanted to go home. But I quickly suppressed that thought and replaced it with the fact will power can get us anywhere, and mine will get me home.

**Hey guys! Hope you guys are liking my story. I do really enjoy comments. So if you have any constructive critism, or you think Aubri's a Mary Sue ( which I'm trying so hard not to do!), or what ever, leave a little review**.


	10. Chapter 10

They say the night before the games is the hardest.

They weren't kidding.

I couldn't stop pacing around my room; My mind was buzzing with thoughts of what could happen tomorrow. What if Charlie kills me? What if something eats me? What if-

No. That won't happen. I'm a career. I'm not alone. I'm strong. I'm a fighter

And I'm hungry. Maybe a little food would help me.

I creep out of my room, careful not to wake anyone. I want to be alone right now.

I head out toward the dining area. There has to be something around here...

"Hey" I hear a voice behind me. I jumped ten feet in the air and grabbed my heart, concealing it so it wouldn't explode.

"What the heck! Charlie, you scared the crap out of me! What are you doing sneaking around here anyways?" I asked while I recovered from my mini heart attack.

"Sorry. I couldn't sleep and I got bored. In fact, I don't think any tribute in this building is asleep." He said. " I'm excited and terrified at the same time."

"Well I can relate to the terrified part." I admitted.

"Why? You have the careers to protect you. For some strange reason, they won't let me be a part. Do they not like me or something?" He questioned.

_Oh Charlie, how little you know..._

"It tastes like vinegar, doesn't it?" I murmured to him.

"What?"

"Being disliked." I said. " It's the worst feeling in the world. The feeling that you're all alone. No one to help you. No one to protect you. No one to care if you died..."

He looked at me.

"Do you finally understand?" I asked in a melancholy tone.

A mix of emotions waved across his face.

"I have to know, why'd you do it?." I whispered.

He was silent.

I continued on. " What did I do to you? I don't understand."

He was still silent.

"I don't want to go into these games not knowing. This very well might be the last chance for you to tell me." I pleaded.

We had an intense staring contest. He seemed to be reading me. I don't understand why he would be so guarded, I has shown my weakest side to him. It may have written my death sentence, but I just had to know.

" He loved you." Charlie finally blurted out. I focused on every breath that came out of his mouth.

"Marcus." Charlie said with a shaky breath.

Marcus? I heard his name every now or then, but I didn't really know him.

I waited for him to continue.

"He loved you." Charlie repeated. " So I got mad. I had to find a way to convince him he was wrong, I wanted to do something to him think it was a bad idea. So I used my social power. Spread some rumors. Just a little spark so he didn't ask you out or something. But they soon turned to wild fire. I started hearing things that weren't true, and I couldn't change that. The damage had already been done. All I could do was go along."

I soaked in the information.

"But wait, something isn't right. Why'd you target Marcus?" I asked. I saw him think for a second. He wanted to lie, but he knew I would see it.

"Well...I did it because...you see...well..." He stuttered. He looked right in his eyes. He was reluctant, but he knew that I didn't care for his games, I wanted to know. Now.

"Well. Because...because I loved you too."

...Wait, what?

"Hold on!" I exclaimed. "Then how come when I confessed my feelings to you, you went ahead and did this? You had already won!"

_Whoa, that was conceded._

"It happened before that day. Trust me, I wanted to take it back, but I couldn't. The social world is a hard place to survive. " he said sadly. "What was done was done. I'm sorry."

The weird thing was that, I wasn't mad.

I finally spoke"It's ok. You thought that was the right thing. How would've you known? It's a weird thing, the way we act in front if people, always worried that someone would judge us. We try to please everyone. The moral is we don't like to be alone. I think that's what drives us to stupid things like that. And especially when love adds its twist to the game. And you should've stood up for me, but you were trying to protect yourself, and that's the normal thing to do. But that's the past, and this is the present. And now we can go into those games with a clear conscience. Both of us."

A slight smile creeped onto his face, like a ghost in the night. I could tell he was happy I wasn't mad. And why should I? Like I said, that is the past, and this is the present...

"Thank you, Aubri." He said. My name sounded natural coming out of him. I wish he said it more often...

He started walk towards me; I floated over and met him halfway. We hugged. I came clear that he was terrified, he was shaking pretty badly.

So, I reached up and kissed him on the cheek. For his nerves.

And for mine.

I started back for my room. But before I ducked into the darkness behind my door I decided to return a favor.

"Good luck!" I called out.

"Good luck to you too, Aubri!" I hear him call back.

As I lay back down, the clouds in my mind cleared, leaving me with one thought:

I just made the biggest mistake of my life.

But it was worth it.

**Alright! Who's ready for the games! I know I am! Whoop ! So I found a way to be able to write my stories at school. I just simply write it in the notes app on my phone during lunch and use copy and paste to post! **

**Shine on! And may the odds be ever in her favor...**


	11. Chapter 11

It seemed like an eternity that I was waiting in the launch room until Vark came in. I was attempting not scratch at my locator chip they injected into my arm. But man, was it itchy.

Vark presented my outfit I would be wearing for the next two weeks. It wasn't anything special. Just a brown shirt, black pants, and black boots that fit my foot like a glove. I felt the material, it was the kind that dried quickly. A smile crept on my face; that only meant one thing:

"Water."

Vark looked at me with a glad expression. He stalked over to me and began to do my hair. He put it in a pony tail, and showed me a lilac ribbon, and tied it into a bow on the peak of my ponytail.

"There, now you'll be beautiful." Vark whispered. " Keep that beauty alive."

I guessed that was his way good luck.

"Thank you, so much Vark." I said with a shaky breath. I hadn't noticed before, but I was shaking rapidly. I was terribly nervous.

"Please step onto the launch pad." Said a robotic voice that made me jump. Vark gave me a reassuring nod, as if to say you can do this.

I slowly walked over to the glass cylinder and step onto the metal plate.

_Take a deep breath, Aubri. _

The door closed and I started ascending .

I closed my eyes and waited. After about a minute the sunlight pierced through my eye lids.

_Sixty seconds._

I began counting down in my head while taking in my surroundings. To the east of me was a forest filled with oak trees. I saw some bushes with some colorful dots on them. To my west was a grassland, and in the distance I think I saw a deer or something.

_34, 33, 32..._

In front of me was a mountain, with a few trees on it like freckles.

_26,25... _

All twenty four tributes were surrounding the golden horn they call the Cornucopia. I spotted Charlie to my left, Dak to my right. I had never noticed the district 11 tribute, and the monster that was his body. He was muscular.

Uh-oh.

Then I spotted my ticket to freedom. Well, tickets. I spotted five throwing knives spiraled out like I Chinese fan, ready for throwing.

_14, 13_ BOOM!

What the heck? The games haven't even started!

It took me a minute to realize that the district 6 tribute must've stepped of his plate early, and the mines hidden in the ground must've reminded him that you're my supposed to do that...

Whoops.

I focused my attention back onto the knives, thankfully just in time for the gong to go off. Some of the tributes were still distracted from the explosion, and tripped a little when racing towards the Cornucopia.

I ran as fast as I possibly could, my eyes right focused on the knives. I finally reached them and saw the district 5 boy racing towards me with an axe.

_CRAP CRAP CRAP_

I sent one of my knives flying towards his heart, which landed a little right of it, but that's ok.

I saw Dak maiming one of the 12 tributes. His district partner just watched from the edge of the grassland with a sad look on her face, then ran off.

I looked around for Sarah, but she was no where to be seen.

That's when the district 6 girl charged toward me with a slingshot loaded with darts in her hand, ready to shoot. I hurriedly thrusted another knife towards her, just as she shot her darts. Being Aubri Baum, I of corse tried to get out of the way of the darts, I jumped to the side and tripped over some backpacks. During that entire fiasco, the knife I planned to kill 6 with, flew way the hell out of the way.

Thankfully, she ran out of darts and ran away as I stumbled onto my feet.

I turn around and saw the district 11 monster pinning Charlie.I panicked and threw my knife in their direction hoping to get the 11 boy...

Good news: I got him.

Bad news: it didn't kill him. the knife wedged itself into his arm. He looked strait at me. He knew I was the culprit. He slowly got off of Charlie, still glaring at me, and ran off towards the forest.

I stood there, terrified. I couldn't move. That's when someone screamed "AUBRI!" I flailed around and saw the 11 girl with a sword ( that she had no idea how to use) coming at me. I drove my third knife into her heart. With that, the chaos ceased.

The booms of the bloodbath cannons went off. I silently counted to myself.

_4, 5, 6, 7, 8..._

They stopped at eight. Huh, eight tributes. A third of the games done. Cool.

We gathered around. It seemed that all of our career pack remained. Even Savannah. Charlie was no where to be seen.

" Well, take your pick." Said Dak while gesturing towards the remaining weapons.

I, of corse, searches for as many throwing knives as I could. I found a total of 17 knives.

Dak went for the swords. (Doesn't district 1 ever train their boys to use some thing else?) Sparkle went for the axes. Chance went for the tridents. Savannah went for a dagger. There was something about that girl that rubbed me the wrong way...

Now's not the time to worry about it though, I told myself.

After we got the weapons we desired, Dak decided to take over the planning.

Oh gosh...

"We will start hunting when it gets dark. Chance, go with Sparkle. Aubri, you come with me. Savannah, you stay here." Chance and Sparkle looked like they wanted to protest, but kept quiet. Savannah kept a blank expression.

While we waited for the sun to go down we started to rummage through the rest of the items left behind in the Cornucopia. There were a few sleeping bags, a bunch of matches, some rope, some water containers, and a variety of fruits and vegetables. We split most of our findings into separate packs, just incase we got separated.

I know it's only going to last a little while, but, it's kinda nice have people you can rely on; someone who actually cares.

Twilight came upon, giving us the cue that we should go soon. Sparkle, Chance, and Dak looked calm and ok with the fact that they would be senselessly killing someone in a couple hours. I was truly terrified, but they didn't know that...

" Alrighty, Baum. Lets go!" Dak exclaimed with a cheer.

We were about to head into the forest. I tugged on the purple ribbon in my hair, just to make sure it didn't fall out. I really didn't want to lose it.


	12. Chapter 12

Nothing I had ever done prepared me for something like this. Dak and I went into the forest part of the arena, and little did we know that the game makers thought it would be a splendid idea to make it pitch black. At first I thought why would they do that? Don't people need to see? Then it occurred to me that they must've put some night vision thing for the viewers to see.

I searched the ground with my foot to make sure that there wasn't any exposed roots or anything I could trip on. It was already hard for me to keep my balance in light, so this was pretty much expert mode for me.

"How are we going to find any tributes?" I whispered.

"I guess we'll have to search for fires." He replied.

"But it's not that cold." I murmured with slight frustration. Why would they have to make it pitch black? Ugh...

We kept creeping along, hoping we would find a tribute soon.

That's when we heard the crack of a match. In the dim light we found a tree and dove behind it. Soon, a set of logs went ablaze.

_Idiot_.

I looked at Dak and we exchanged smirks. He started moving closer, and I followed him, trying to be as stealthy as I could.

We peaked over a bush and identified her as the girl from 7. She looked about thirteen. I gave Dak the you get her look. He looked at me like are you sure? And I nodded. I really didn't want to kill her...

He crept from behind the bush, exposing himself. I heard the girl scream " WAIT, NO! PLEASE!" Followed by a blood curdling scream , and the boom of the cannon.

_Oh. My. God. _

I felt my eyes grow wide and was thankful that Dak put out the flames, it was pretty apparent that tears started streaming down my face. Why'd she have to die? She did nothing wrong... Just an unfortunate name that was picked. That's all she will ever be now, a name. Nothing more.

_Get ahold of yourself Baum! _

"Let's get out of here," Dak said.

"Hey, just a little question." I said trying to control my tears. "How are we going to find our way back?"

He was quiet for a minute, the said "We'll just have to wait. Crap, I shouldn't have put that fire out."

"What's done is done," I say trying to seem annoyed, still silently sobbing. "We should just make camp for the night. Look, just light the fire again, and we could just wait it out. It's not going to work out, us hunting at night, not in this darkness"

We both know the true motive. It's the same old same old. Careers hunting at night. They're trying to make it more entertaining. Change it up.

Buttholes.

Dak lights the fire again as I sit down in the girls makeshift camp. She positioned some broken branches and logs to make a couple bench type things. I leaned up against one, attempting to get comfortable. Correction: failing at getting comfortable. Before he could get the fire strong, I tried to wipe my face clean of tears. I got them under control, but my face was puffy and my nose red as Rudolph's. I hoped he wouldn't notice...

He noticed. "Umm, are you ok?"

_Crap!_

"Yea, this forest is a pollen wonderland," I chuckle.

_Please buy it. _

"Oh, umm, ok," Dak replied

He sat down next to me. "So, you got a story, Baum?" He asked.

"Not really," I laughed. "I love swimming, that's kinda my biggest thing, ya know?"

"Ha, yea. Swimming huh? That's different. I like different." He murmured. "So, was it true? You don't have a boyfriend."

_What are you doing, Dak..._

"Yea." Was all I could manage. This wasn't the most pleasant subject for me to talk about.

"That sucks. I guess district 2 guys are blind." He scooted closer to me.

_What are you doing Dak?!_

"Um, just because I said that I don't have a boyfriend doesn't mean I don't like someone," I cried out a little to hastily. He was trying to pull a move! No one ever does that, I mean, not with me!

We sat there in silence for a minute.

"It's the first night of the games, lets just focus on what we're here for. We've been out here for a long time, the sun should be coming up soon. Ok?" I whispered. I had the worst experience with the whole relationship lovey-dovey stuff. I don't want to start this to start now...

Do I?...

**Hey! Hope you guys are enjoying the story! Sorry for a smaller chapter! Now, I understand this is fan fiction and we are not professional writers, but keep an open mind. To enjoy a story, think outside the box. Make conclusions in your head. Put yourself into the insanity of the Hunger Games. Don't read this story with a general state of mind. It's like a slap in the face! :( ( who likes being slapped? No one!) **

**As always, please review, I'll always enjoy comments, good or bad!**


	13. Chapter 13

Walking back to our camp was an...what's the word... AWKWARD experience. Dak the ladies man (no) tried to pull a move on me. To pass the time, I tried to identify some of the colorful bushes I saw when the games started. They were berries, I don't specifically know what kind of berries, but berries.

"Hey, check it out." I blurt out before I realize. I guess I don't really want Dak to know about the berries... I mean, should I?

We move closer to examine one of the bushes and the pink berries that live on it. That's when I heard the buzzing.

It's nothing... It's just a.. Nothing... There can't be bees...

We kept moving closer and the buzzing got louder. My nerves overcame me and I started sweating. The horrible images that accompany this sound.

A few years ago, I was going out for my nightly swim, as usual. While walking through my little woods I start to hear a buzzing. I quickly ignored it thinking it was beetles or something. So I just kept walking, kinda zoning out, thinking about how stupid it is to train for the games, just ignoring the buzzing. I finally reached my little lake I've been to so many times before. I gently took my clothes off and placed them on a nearby rock, leaving my body exposed. I was about to jump in, when an alarm sounded, or at least, that's what it sounded like. I was bombarded by a swarm of bees. I started screaming and flailing my arms around as they attacked my naked body. It took me a minute to realize that my only escape was the lake. I took a deep breathe through my nose and dove in. It was hard to see all the bees in the darkness, but I saw them when they flew in front of the moon. Billions of little dots, pissed about something, but I didn't know what. Holding my breathe wasn't that hard, I could go for 2-3 minutes. I kept hoping they would leave soon, but the swarm wasn't going anywhere. I could feel the stings all over me, but the cold water subdued the pain a little.

_Please move soon. Come on_!

At that point I'd been holding my breathe for a very long time. My head started to hurt and my vision was going blurry, but I knew that if I went up for air they would dive bomb my face, and that many stings would not be something I survive. I looked up and tried hard to focus, there were only a few bees left. My head started to feel light. I clutched it, trying to keep it intact. I could barley see, and my lungs were burning. I looked up one more time and saw a blurry version of the moon; all the dots were gone.

I swam up as fast as I could, taking a giant breath as I broke the surface, taking in about a gallon of water as well, but very relived to have oxygen. I got out of the water and examined the stings. About twenty stingers stuck out of my body. I tried to put on my shirt, but as soon as the fabric touched the barbs a shock of pain flooded my body, forcing out screams. I couldn't walk through the streets naked. The painful conclusion became apparent: I had to remove the stingers, right then and there.

It wasn't pleasant.

Ever since then I always ran the other way when I heard any kind of buzzing. But I can't this time. I can't show him this fear. I need to do something... But what...

"WAIT!" I yelled way too loud.

"WHAT?!" Dak yelled equally just as loud.

"It's booby trapped or something. I mean, they wouldn't just give us food. These are the Hunger Games!" I said realizing my awkward contradiction.

"I guess your right." Dak said, kinda disappointed. Couldn't he hear the buzzing?

We continued on, and arrived back at camp right when the sun started to show its face. The others had found their way back, running into the same darkness problem that Dak and I did.

"Well, we can't hunt at night." Said Sparkle, clearly annoyed. "We can't see a flipping thing! UGH!"

"Calm down," Dak said. "We'll just hunt during the day."

Just then, the seal of the Capitol boomed across the sky and the anthem started playing.

"Why are the playing it now?" I asked.

"So we won't be able to see the light at night." Sparkle replied as if it was apparent.

The faces of the dead tributes lit up the sky.

The District 3 boy was the first face up.

_So Charlie's ok.._

Then the Boy from district 5 appeared.

_Then Sarah's ok too_.

I let out a involuntary sigh of relief, and quickly hoped no one notice.

The rest of the faces were hard to watch. It was the 6 boy, both of the 7 tributes, the girl from 10 (The one Dak killed) , the girl from 11, and the boy from 12.

All of them were dead. For no reason. Murdered for sport. The other careers started whooping and clapping each other on the shoulder. The familiar feelings of hatred for the Hunger Games started to return to me, like I was at home watching the the careers celebrate the deaths of strangers competing against them. But this time I was living it. I hate the Capitol, I hate the Games, and I especially hate the Careers. But I pretended to be happy, I pretended to celebrate, I pretended like I was one if them. But I my heart, I knew I would never be like them, ever.

I tightened my hair bow, making sure it was nice and secure, I really don't want to lose it.

I was still "cheering" when I noticed everyone stopped abruptly. I look over and see a mischievous smirk seep onto Sparkle's face and Dak reaching for his sword.

_What are they looking at?_

I turned around and my heart skipped a beat. Dak's newest prey:

Running up the hill towards us, Charlie, was about to die.


	14. Chapter 14

I couldn't believe Charlie was trying to STILL join the Careers. Hasn't he learned! What an idiot! They're gonna kill him as soon as he steps a foot past the Cornucopia!

What can I do? I can't let them I couldn't believe Charlie was trying to STILL join the Careers. Hasn't he learned! What an idiot! They're gonna kill him as soon as he steps a foot past the Cornucopia!

_What can I do? I can't let them kill him! Umm..._

"Ugh! Why won't he leave us alone!" I say as if I was annoyed. "He keeps following us! Here, I'll go drive him off." I run off before anyone can stop me.

I meet Charlie halfway across the field, where the Careers couldn't hear us.

"Hey!" He said, breathing heavy from running for a while.

I ask him in a serious manor, "What are you doing here?"

"Well I saw you survived, so I wanted to meet up with you guys." He replies.

"You shouldn't have come here." I hesitated. "We don't need your help."

"But.." He begins.

"Charlie. They are going to kill you. Get out of here. Fast. I will meet you soon enough." I explain.

"There's no way you guys are going to survive off of Dak's instruction! You're gonna need some brains in that operation!" He says completely ignoring my comment.

"What about me?" I ask.

"I mean, c'mon Aubri. Who are you kidding?"

"Excuse me?"

"Listen-"

"No! You listen to me!You're driving me nuts! First you hate me, then you love me! Then you think I'm not smart enough to survive? Are you serious? Grow up! UGH! Pick a side! "There's one winner, and I guarantee that it's not going to be a pompous ass-hole like you!"

"Aubri, I'm-"

"Get out!" I scream as I shove him to the ground and storm off to the camp. I didn't look back, but I knew he wouldn't follow me. He knew better.

When I get back, no one bothers to ask me what happened, or why I didn't kill him. Though now I wish I did.

I started to gather my knives. "Well, are we hunting or not!" I snarl at everyone. Without a word, they gathered their supplies and we split off into our groups we had before.

As me and Dak trekked through the forest, my hunger started to become apparent. I started to snack on some nuts I got from the Cornucopia. Dak did the same. We kept walking, thats when I started to become very tired. I hadn't slept very much within the past two days, but I willed myself to ignore it and move on.

That's when a dart flew by my ear. I jumped to the side, quickly searching for my attacker. It was the District 6 girl that attacked me at the bloodbath.

"Dak! Get behind a tree!" I yell and crawl behind a tree myself.

An array of darts started flying towards us. There's no way it could be only her.

"She has allies!" I shout at Dak.

"You bet I do!" The District 6 girl yells as she appears next to me. Her green eyes meet mine and she load her darts.

As fast as I could (which is pretty fast), I bolt of in the other direction as another dart whizzes past my ear. I glance behind my shoulder and see her chasing me. I couldn't stop and throw my knife because she would get me with her darts, but I had to stop her.

I had to risk it, though. As I ran in a zig zag to avoid the darts, I griped one of my knives between my fingers, ran around a tree to where I was facing her and threw my knife. A canon went off, and a sharp pain coursed through my leg. She had hit me and my knife sunk into her skull.

Well I got her. But, she got me as well. I examined my injury, the butt of a dart was sticking out of my right calf with a purple bruise circled around it.

_Should I take it out?_

I slumped down against the tree. This wasn't a stinger, and blood would come rushing out, and I have nothing to catch it. But I can't leave it in there...

I was stuck, with no where to go, completely exposed. It was my only choice.

My adrenaline was making me shake like crazy, the pain in my leg wasn't that bad from the shock. I decided to pul it out.

I took off my shoe, got my sock, and put my shoe back on. I gripped the dart firmly.

_On three. 1...2...3!_

A sharp screamed escaped from my mouth. I quickly scolded myself for it. I placed the sock over the wound, subduing the blood.

Slowly, I pulled myself up, able to put some pressure on my leg. But it wouldn't last long, I knew once I calmed down... Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. All the pain would hit me like bricks... (Does this ring a bell Sarah? A certain tree...)

I limped as fast as I could, scanning the area that I could hide. I saw a hollowed out tree; it had to make due.

It wasn't a comfortable position, but I was able to wedge my self into the tree, out of sight. The sun was going down, I would be safe in the darkness... My eye lids drew heavy; I finally escaped into sleep...

My thankfully dreamless sleep was interrupted by a hush voice calling out "Aubri? Where did you go?" It sounded pretty desperate...

It was nighttime by then, so I couldn't see a thing, but it sounded like Dak. I decided to risk this...

"Dak?" I whispered.

"Aubri!" Dak called out. "Where are you?"

"I'm over here! The 6 girl got me in the leg with a dart!" I reached into my pack and grabbed a match, and lit it so he could see where I was. He ran over to me.

"Does it hurt?" He asked

"Yea... I'm fine though."

Dak helped me out of the tree. My leg was hurting a lot more now. I could barely put pressure before falling.

"Do you think you can walk?" Dak asked.

"Umm, well, I don't think so." I admitted.

"Ok, I'll just carry you."

I hated the idea. I hated feeling so helpless. "We'll have to wait for morning, though," I said.

He sat down next to me, and we lit a small fire. He kept his sword in his hand, just incase anyone found us.

We didn't talk, we just felt that warmth of the fire. It was kinda nice.

I don't know how long I was asleep for, but soon enough the sun started to peek over the trees. We packed our stuff and put out the fire. He then picked me up and we headed in the direction of our camp.

It was very nice, having someone by your side, especially when we're supposed to be fighting to the death. Dak was so nice, not like I imagined district 1 boys, he was kind, protecting, trustworthy. If it wasn't for him, I'd probably be dead..

We reached our camp, and Dak told Savannah to find some disinfectant. She obeyed without a word.

I sat there, appreciative of Dak. I reached for my hair bow, only to find it on the floor. I must've dropped it...

COOKIES TO ANYONE WHO CAN TELL ME WHAT HER RIBBON SYMBOLIZES!

As always, please review:)!

"Ugh! Why won't he leave us alone!" I say as if I was annoyed. "He keeps following us! Here, I'll go drive him off." I run off before anyone can stop me.

I meet Charlie halfway across the field, where the Careers couldn't hear us.

"Hey!" He said, breathing heavy from running for a while.

I ask him in a serious manor, "What are you doing here?"

"Well I saw you survived, so I wanted to meet up with you guys." He replies.

"You shouldn't have come here." I hesitated. "We don't need your help."

"But.." He begins.

"Charlie. They are going to kill you. Get out of here. Fast. I will meet you soon enough." I explain.

"There's no way you guys are going to survive off of Dak's instruction! You're gonna need some brains in that operation!" He says completely ignoring my comment.

"What about me?" I ask.

"I mean, c'mon Aubri. Who are you kidding?"

"Excuse me?"

"Listen-"

"No! You listen to me!You're driving me nuts! First you hate me, then you love me! Then you think I'm not smart enough to survive? Are you serious? Grow up! UGH! Pick a side! "There's one winner, and I guarantee that it's not going to be a pompous ass-hole like you!"

"Aubri, I'm-"

"Get out!" I scream as I shove him to the ground and storm off to the camp. I didn't look back, but I knew he wouldn't follow me. He knew better.

When I get back, no one bothers to ask me what happened, or why I didn't kill him. Though now I wish I did.

I started to gather my knives. "Well, are we hunting or not!" I snarl at everyone. Without a word, they gathered their supplies and we split off into our groups we had before.

As me and Dak trekked through the forest, my hunger started to become apparent. I started to snack on some nuts I got from the Cornucopia. Dak did the same. We kept walking, thats when I started to become very tired. I hadn't slept very much within the past two days, but I willed myself to ignore it and move on.

That's when a dart flew by my ear. I jumped to the side, quickly searching for my attacker. It was the District 6 girl that attacked me at the bloodbath.

"Dak! Get behind a tree!" I yell and crawl behind a tree myself.

An array of darts started flying towards us. There's no way it could be only her.

"She has allies!" I shout at Dak.

"You bet I do!" The District 6 girl yells as she appears next to me. Her green eyes meet mine and she load her darts.

As fast as I could (which is pretty fast), I bolt of in the other direction as another dart whizzes past my ear. I glance behind my shoulder and see her chasing me. I couldn't stop and throw my knife because she would get me with her darts, but I had to stop her.

I had to risk it, though. As I ran in a zig zag to avoid the darts, I griped one of my knives between my fingers, ran around a tree to where I was facing her and threw my knife. A canon went off, and a sharp pain coursed through my leg. She had hit me and my knife sunk into her skull.

Well I got her. But, she got me as well. I examined my injury, the butt of a dart was sticking out of my right calf with a purple bruise circled around it.

Should I take it out?

I slumped down against the tree. This wasn't a stinger, and blood would come rushing out, and I have nothing to catch it. But I can't leave it in there...

I was stuck, with no where to go, completely exposed. It was my only choice.

My adrenaline was making me shake like crazy, the pain in my leg wasn't that bad from the shock. I decided to pul it out.

I took off my shoe, got my sock, and put my shoe back on. I gripped the dart firmly.

On three. 1...2...3!

A sharp screamed escaped from my mouth. I quickly scolded myself for it. I placed the sock over the wound, subduing the blood.

I'm going to need some disinfectant... I'm surly gonna die if this gets infected... Crap.

Slowly, I pulled myself up, able to put some pressure on my leg. But it wouldn't last long, I knew once I calmed down... Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. All the pain would hit me like bricks... (Does this ring a bell Sarah? A certain tree...)

I limped as fast as I could, scanning the area that I could hide. I saw a hollowed out tree; it had to make due.

It wasn't a comfortable position, but I was able to wedge my self into the tree, out of sight. The sun was going down, I would be safe in the darkness... My eye lids drew heavy; I finally escaped into sleep...

My thankfully dreamless sleep was interrupted by a hush voice calling out "Aubri? Where did you go?" It sounded pretty desperate...

It was nighttime by then, so I couldn't see a thing, but it sounded like Dak. I decided to risk this...

"Dak?" I whispered.

"Aubri!" Dak called out. "Where are you?"

"I'm over here! The 6 girl got me in the leg with a dart!" I reached into my pack and grabbed a match, and lit it so he could see where I was. He ran over to me.

"Does it hurt?" He asked

"Yea... I'm fine though."

Dak helped me out of the tree. My leg was hurting a lot more now. I could barely put pressure before falling.

"Do you think you can walk?" Dak asked.

"Umm, well, I don't think so." I admitted.

"Ok, I'll just carry you."

I hated the idea. I hated feeling so helpless. "We'll have to wait for morning, though," I said.

He sat down next to me, and we lit a small fire. He kept his sword in his hand, just incase anyone found us.

We didn't talk, we just felt that warmth of the fire. It was kinda nice.

I don't know how long I was asleep for, but soon enough the sun started to peek over the trees. We packed our stuff and put out the fire. He then picked me up and we headed in the direction of our camp.

It was very nice, having someone by your side, especially when we're supposed to be fighting to the death. Dak was so nice, not like I imagined district 1 boys, he was kind, protecting, trustworthy. If it wasn't for him, I'd probably be dead..

We reached our camp, and Dak told Savannah to find some disinfectant. She obeyed without a word.

I sat there, appreciative of Dak. I reached for my hair bow, only to find it on the floor. I must've dropped it...

**COOKIES TO ANYONE WHO CAN TELL ME WHAT HER RIBBON SYMBOLIZES!**

**As always, please review:)!**


	15. Chapter 15

Even though Dak and I have become true allies, every time I turn around I feel like I'm going to get a dagger in the back.

Sparkle seems to have developed a hatred for me, the reason, well... I'm not exactly sure. I mean it could be the fact her district partner , her form of protection, is pairing up with me. I don't even wanna talk about Savannah. She doesn't talk, she just stares at us, as if she is planning all of our deaths one by one. She seems oblivious to the fact Chance is madly in love with her, but I know she knows. She's smarter than that...

I guess the tribute parade paid off, cause about mid Afternoon, a little silver parachute floated down containing a miracle cream that sped up the healing process in my leg. A few hours later I was back on my feet, limping, but on my feet, as the 6 girls face was projected across the sky.

I started to begin to wonder where Sarah is hiding. She's done a good job so far, but I wonder what's going on...

It's a risk, but I decided to go out at night and find her. I felt like I owe her an explanation... So, I nonchalantly went to Dak and told him I would look for more food in the Cornucopia.

I filled my pack with most of the food I found, along with some extra matches, socks, and rope. For a while I searched for something that would help me on my midnight expedition, a flashlight. It took me a while but I found a tiny weak one.

_Gamemakers_...

It was something though. But how am I going to get around Savannah? She'd been guarding us at night, but I never slept. I didn't trust that girl at all... I figured though that I would just say I was going to the bathroom.

Night came, and it didn't take long for the others to doze off, but I waited a little while longer, just to stay safe. After a while, I got up just to find Savannah was no where to be seen.

_Where did she go?_

Whatever. I don't have long to search for Sarah, but she's from District 4, so she's probably going to be near water, and it's about time I find a lake. I've been itching to jump in the water for so long! It's my home!

First things first then, I needed to go downhill. I crept away from the camp and took out my tiny flashlight. The light was yellow and weak, but I could see a few feet in front of me, which was enough. I couldn't move to fast, my leg was still sore. That's when I heard a rustle. I held my breath; I would never hit anyone with a knife in this darkness, even with my little flashlight! So I turned it off and waited.

I started to hear running, but it was quiet; they were light on their feet. It was getting closer, I didn't know what to do! It was getting closer, I was frozen solid.

_They can't know I'm here!_

And apparently they didn't because they ran right into me! We both tumbled for a minute and I reached for my knife. I heard a high-pitched grunt, I figured it was a girl. I guess she got up again and tried to run but tripped over me, squishing my stomach. I stabbed at her but she was quick at evading. I kept stabbing in the dark until I jammed my knife deep into a tree and couldn't get it out. She tried to run off but I grabbed at her ankle or something, grabbed my flashlight, and shined it on her face. I couldn't believe my eyes.

"Savannah!?" I yelled.

"Aubri!?" She yelled back.

I heard some more rustling and we ran off together.

The lake was beautiful, I mean, against the dim of my flash light. It was kinda small, but crystal clear perfection. It would've been a dream, if , you know, this wasn't the Hunger Games.

"Glad you finally made it!" comes a familiar voice.

"Oh hey Sarah." I say. "What's up?"

"Oh not much, just competing in the Hunger Games," she says nonchalantly then giggles. She must be nervous.

We started a little fire under a shelf of rocks so it wasn't as noticeable. Sarah had a few cuts and scrapes, not too bad. But you could count her ribs; she was already pretty skinny, but it looked like she hasn't eaten much.

She noticed me staring at her. "I don't really know how to hunt," she admitted.

"Sarah I have a question," I ask reaching for my pack.

"Yea?"

I pull out a bag of fruit. "Are you hungry for the Hunger Games!"

We burst into silent laughter, it felt good, like we were actual friends that have known each other for years. It felt good.

Just then, Savannah crept from the trees with some more supplies.

"What's going on Savannah?" I ask with a more serious attitude.

"Well, when I was sitting with Sarah back at the Training Center, Chance came up to me and asked me to join you guys," Savannah replies. "So I told Sarah-" she glanced at Sarah and gave her a _Should I do it?_ look, and Sarah nodded.

"I told Sarah I would join them a steal their supplies," she hesitated."And plan their demise,"

I let that soak in for a second. I guess that's why she was so quiet, silently planning on how to kill us.

I broke the awkward silence. "Um, ok. I'm gonna go back now."

"You're not gonna tell, right?" Savannah called.

I didn't reply.

The sun was rising when I reached the camp. The others were just getting up; Savannah was no where to be seen. Chance seemed to be looking around for Savannah, who I doubt he'll find.

But then were heard a rustle from the bushes. I readied my l knife for this ignorant pursuer. We were some what relived when Savannah popped her head through. The rest of the team lowered their weapons, but I stood still.

She read my facial expression, confused. She gave me a _Did you tell_? Face. I lowered my knife and shook my head. I don't know why I didn't tell... It would be so easy. They would kill her and I'd be closer to home. But I didn't. And I was still kicking myself for it.

Evening fell upon us, and we were preparing our supplies for a hunt tomorrow. There's been no faces in the sky meaning the Capitol will grow bored and the game makers would intervene with a deadly twist. Not fun at all. Savannah was going through supplies in the Cornucopia. I went and gathered supplies next to her. We didn't say anything. I still wondered if she was working on her plan. But I wouldn't let her kill them. This may be the Hunger Games, but I will not let her best us.

I was finished and about to walk away, when I felt one thing needed to be said.

I muttered," You owe me."


End file.
